Wide Awake
by Fireflysneeze
Summary: There's only two things James considers worth being woken up at half five in the morning for - and this time, it's not quidditch. Originally posted on AO3, here edited and updated.


I woke up to the unpleasant sensation of Sirius throwing Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans at my face. I clung to my pillow, unwilling to leave the warmth of my bed just yet.

"James, get up."

"Ow!"

"James, get up."

"Ow!"

"JAMES, GET-"

"Alright, alright! I'm up!" I dragged myself into a vertical position, rubbing the spot on my face where I had been so rudely assaulted, and gave Sirius my very best death glare. He smiled smugly.

"There had better be a very good reason you woke me up at the ungodly hour of-" I checked the watch beside my bed- "half past five in the morning or I swear I will..." My wit failed me as I yawned widely, ruffling my hair, "…transfigure your hair into worms."

Padfoot merely rolled his eyes at my childish threat. Not one of my best, I know, but to be fair, it was HALF FIVE! IN THE MORNING! What kind of sick sadist wakes up his supposed best friend at half five? Well, I wake him up at half five whenever there's quidditch practise to get to, but that's for a good cause.

"I do, actually, Prongsie. A very good reason. A spectacularly interesting, magni-" he said leisurely.

"And?" I cut him off. I struggled to deal with Padfoot's melodramatics at a normal hour, let alone at half five in the morning.

"Well, I was out on my daily jog and was coming back in when the lovely Mary MacDonald came out. Absolutely stunning that one, and clearly highly distracted by my devilish good looks and charm-"

I reached for my wand threateningly. "Padfoot, you have 10 seconds to tell me what the point of this story is or-"

"Fine, fine, grouchy," Sirius huffed, although the impact fell slightly short of his intentions due to the smug smile that was still spread across his face. "She asked if I, being the skilled Beater that I am, could go flying with her later because Lily couldn't." At the mention of Lily I was suddenly much more awake. Padfoot's grin grew wider. "Obviously I had to ask why not, for your sake Prongsie-my-boy, and apparently she's going home. Today. If you want to say goodbye you'd better get yourself down to the Great Hall by, oh, I dunno," He looked around the room, pretending to think deeply, "5:40?"

I checked my watch again. 5:35.

I manically got myself dressed, ignoring Padfoot's laughing commentary ("More than I wanted to see, Prongs") and ran out the door. I raced down the stone corridors that led to the Great Hall praying that I would catch Lily before she left. There was almost no one about, due to the hour, so I could run as fast as I could without worrying about knocking some tiny first year flying.

I began to worry as I got closer and closer. She wouldn't just leave, would she? I mean, we'd been head boy and girl for over six months, and I thought we were starting to get along pretty well.

After the initial shock of Dumbledore's appointment of me, rather than Remus (something I also struggled to believe although Remus reckoned it would be too stressful to be head boy considering his "furry little problem"). I actually worked hard to be a good head boy, and not be an idiot and ruin it with Lily like fifth year. Took a while for her to trust me, but slowly as we spent time together it almost seemed like she wanted to be my friend, or even more than that. But that could've just been my wishful thinking.

But why was she just leaving? How long for? Where was she going? Would she be safe? The... Those Death Eaters wouldn't be near? The Prophet's front page was looking gloomier every day, and I don't think I could stand it if she became a headline, another story of Voldemort's growing power.

I reached the Great Hall now bordering on panic. Lily was the only person at the Gryffindor table, sitting right at the end with her trunk at her feet. I vaguely registered about six other early risers (an unnatural breed of people) scattered around the room.

"Lily!" I almost yelled.

She turned and saw me sprint in, smirking as I collapsed on the opposite bench, breathless.

"Tired? And I thought athletes were supposed to be fit..." She grinned mischievously.

My heart jumped to my throat. Did she realise how gorgeous she was when she smiled? Her friendly banter after all these years of (admittedly justified) insults always took my breath away.

"Hey, I ran all the way!" I pouted, grinning at her all the same.

"Aw, poor baby." She cooed, buttering a slice of toast. I decided to let that slight to my masculinity slide. She focused on her breakfast as I tried to think of a non-creepy way to bring up her sudden trip away from Hogwarts.

"So, um, I hear you're leaving?" I said, attempting vainly to play it cool. She looked mildly surprised that I knew about it.

"Um, well, yes. Just for a few days." She replied.

"Oh. Um. Cool. Can I... Um, can I ask why?" (Definitely not clingy.)

Thankfully she didn't seem to notice, instead smiling as she thought of whatever it was.

"My grandparents are visiting from New Zealand. It'll be the first time I've seen them since I found out I was a witch. The school's been really nice about letting me go." She looked so happy, her face practically lit up. She obviously loved her family a lot.

"Oh. Good. Well, I... I hope you have fun?" It came out like a question and I mentally slapped myself.

"Thanks, James." (I will never get tired of hearing James rather than Potter. Never.) "Why are you so interested in where I'm going?"

Gulp. I had a violent internal struggle between not wanting to lie to her and wanting to keep my dignity intact. Please don't hate me.

"I... I just...I..." She raised an eyebrow. "I just wanted to know you would be somewhere safe."

"You think I can't look after myself?" I could see a full-force rant looming so I frantically dug myself out of the hole I had gotten into.

"No, no, of course not, I just needed- I mean I wanted you to be safe and happy because I just, I mean I really care about you, I mean I just wanted to make sure you wouldn't be near any Death Eaters in case – not that I think you can't look after yourself, obviously you can, you're the smartest witch in our year, I just want you to – I'll just shut up now." I eventually managed to stop my mouth from moving. Just as we were getting along, I had to go and start insulting her magical ability. She got enough of that from the Slytherins, at least the pureblood maniacs among them.

Why can I not, for once in my life, just say the right thing in front of her? Why do I mess it up every time? I started banging my head off the table, eyes firmly shut.

Idiot. Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.

Suddenly her cool hand was on my forehead, stopping me from abusing myself.

"You know, every time you do that you lose brain cells, and you really can't stand to lose many. There'll be nothing left."

I snuck a glance at her. She looked amused but also slightly... puzzled?

"James," (She said it again!) "When you said… just there… do you… do you mean it?"

What did I have to lose?

I sat up, looking right into her gorgeous emerald green eyes. "Lily, I don't know what I would do if you didn't come back to me."

I swear time stopped as I waited for her reaction. She was completely motionless but I could tell her brain was working overtime. She scanned my face for what seemed like forever, until I was absolutely sure she was just trying to find a way to reject me gently. I braced myself for the inevitable.

But when she opened her mouth, my jaw hit the floor.

"That had got to be the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me." She murmured.

"Wait, really?" I asked, eyes wide open in shock.

"Uh-huh." She smiled- wait, was LILY EVANS blushing? This has got to be a joke. I can't seriously have got this lucky. She glanced down at her watch, still with that adorably embarrassed smile across her lips.

"I've got to go. See you when I get back, James." And just when I thought my day couldn't get any better, she leaned over and kissed my cheek.

She hastily grabbed her suitcase and left, nodding goodbye to Sirius as he walked in.

"Hey, Prongs, did you do something to Evans? She looked like she just got O's on all her NEWTs... Prongs?"

I could barely hear him. The imprint of her lips burned into my skin as I watched her elegantly walk out of the Great Hall.


End file.
